The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for digital video processing and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for adjusting an original field sequence for display on a target display system having a vertical refresh rate inconsistent with the original field sequence.
A digital versatile disc (“DVD”) video program is generally encoded in one of the following three frame formats having different resolutions and scan rates. The first frame format, having a resolution of 720×480 and a scan rate at 29.97 frames per second, is suitable for use in the National Television Standards Committee (“NTSC”) color television system provided for North America and Japan. The second frame format, having a resolution of 720×480 and a scan rate at 23.976 frames per second, is generally used to encode film movies. The third frame format, having a resolution of 720×576 and a scan rate at 25 frames per second, is suitable for use in the Phase Alternating Line (“PAL”) color television system provided for Europe and China. The first, second and third frame formats are collectively called as D1 format.
The NTSC and PAL scan formats have been widely used for commercial television systems. Both of the NTSC and PAL formats use interlaced scanning to reduce flicker. The NTSC scan format has a vertical refresh rate of 59.94 fields per second, whereas the PAL scan format has a vertical refresh rate of 50 fields per second. A vertical refresh rate refers to a rate at which one field of a frame is transmitted. In a display system such as a television system, a frame is created by scanning an electron beam horizontally across the screen from left to right, then moving back to the left, and scanning across the screen again. This process is repeated until all lines have been scanned, thus completing one frame of video. A complete frame interval includes an even field interval and an odd field interval following the even field interval, or vice versa. To properly display a DVD title or program on a television system, the DVD title must have an appropriate number of field lines, of which even field lines are displayed in an even field interval and odd field lines are displayed in an odd field interval. Each of the field lines includes an even or odd polarity.
It may sometimes be required to display a DVD title on a display system having a different format from that of the DVD title, for example, to display an NTSC-formatted title on a PAL television system, or vice versa. Due to the difference in vertical refresh rate between the NTSC and PAL systems, one is not able to properly display an NTSC-formatted DVD title on a PAL display system. Moreover, to display a DVD title on a display system of 625-lines/50 Hz (PAL) or 525-lines/59.94 Hz (NTSC) that have respectively 576 and 480 active lines in a frame time, it is necessary to modify the frame size to suit the interlaced display system. It is therefore desirable to have a method and apparatus for displaying a DVD title on a display system by providing enough resolution from a spatial point of view and maintain continuity of motion from a temporal point of view. Specifically, the DVD title should be processed to have appropriate field pictures and even/odd polarity so as to match the even/odd field time of an interlaced scanning sequence of a display system.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and a method that obviate one or more problems resulting from the limitations and disadvantages of the prior art.